Automotive Trends

Well Day One of the 2007 NAIAS has come to a close. You’ve read the Show Stoppers. Now peruse the gallery once (or twice!) before you tuck in for the night. And rest assured, we’ll bring even more automotive goodness to the web tomorrow!

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The Acura RDX concept shown off at the 2005 NAIAS.

A Grab Bag of Automotive Goodies!

    Auto shows don’t come any bigger than the NAIAS and if day one was any indication the 100th anniversary of the Motor City’s annual automotive celebration will be one long remembered. Today we saw crossovers and convertibles, electric cars, sports sedans and monster diesels with more torque than any one transmission should be asked to contain. No, there doesn’t seem to be a central theme to this year’s show, but one universal truth remains: It’s still the granddaddy of them all! Read more…

Dirt Cheap Looks Better The Second Time Around

    We last drove an Aveo in 2005 when we called it the rolling definition of dirt cheap. Sure it sounds critical, but after plenty of jabs below the beltline we admitted that for people on the strictest budget the Aveo offered basic transportation with a factory warranty and only asked for $12,690 in return. Read more…

     Driving an off-road vehicle feels like piloting a giant concrete block.
     They’re unweildy, heavy, bouncy, unresponsive and generally uncomfortable on the road. Vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler and Nissan XTerra might be great on the Rubicon Trail, but who cares about off-road ability when a trip to the Home Depot sends you to the chiropractor? Read more…

2006 Ford-F-150 Harley-Davidson unveiled at the 2005 NAIAS.

Exceeding Even Our Lowest Expectations

    In the interest of full disclosure we must confess we weren’t expecting a lot from the yellow H3 that GM sent our way. It didn’t help that our colleagues were reporting that the H3’s 220-hp I5 engine made for a seriously slow vehicle. We’re talking getting passed by a Chevrolet Aveo with an automatic transmission going uphill into a stiff headwind slow. Read more…

     If you ever need proof that money doesn’t buy happiness, look to the Middle East.
     Fifty years ago, this region was little more than sand and camels punctuated by a few ramshackle tents that housed people who hadn’t changed their standard of living in 1,000 years. Read more…

Audi Gets Serious About Its Smallest Sedan

    There’s good news and bad news regarding our review of the hottest Audi to hit these shores since the RS 6 discovered exactly how limited “limited production” is when Ingolstadt stopped turbocharging the daylights out of its midsize sedan in 2003.
     The good news is we got our anxious little driving-gloved hands on an example, and not just any example. This was an Imola Yellow screamer so shockingly noticeable area cops were planning Hawaiian vacations on their lunch hours. A radar detector or cleavage should come standard. Read more…

     It seems that every time you open a newspaper or turn on TV, you see another story about how we Americans are fat pigs.
     Scientific studies, government reports and publicity-loving doctors like to remind us that we’re beyond simply unhealthy — we’re so fat we’re killing ourselves. Read more…